Walking With the Gentle Giants

There’s not much to say about Chiang Mai. I mostly sat in the hostel working on the website and figuring out what I was doing next on this trip. I did manage to go and see some Thai boxing with the owner of the hostel that I was staying at. I also got to cross a part off my bucket list and went to take care of elephants for a day.

It didn’t go as planned at first, being that they forgot to pick me up in the morning, but after getting picked up by the owner of the elephant sanctuary, I was on my way.
It was deep in the middle of the jungles of northern Thailand. Miles of dirt roads finally lead us to the place where the elephants roamed freely. We were instantly introduce to the family of five gentle giants and got to feed and play with them. One elephant took a liking to me and followed me around like a puppy. I honestly can’t remember her name (language barrier) but she was about 46 years old and was very smart. She figured out where I had the bananas and sugar cane in my shirt. Every once in a while I would feel her trunk picking the snacks out of my pocket. We found ourselves in a creek bathing the elephants and mudding them. Mudding the animals cools them and keeps the bugs off. We spent a few more hours giving the elephants medicine and learning how to take care of them day by day.

This whole experience was beyond my expectations and I really enjoyed myself more than I ever have on this trip. Before I knew it, we’re back on the truck heading back to the city. Later that night I finally managed to walk around the night market with a Dutch family that was stay in the same hostile I was. It was a good night and I really enjoyed resting for most of it before figuring out where I was going. My original thought was to go to Laos, but with their slow mentality and travel, I knew I didn’t have the time and so I bypassed it. Instead I took a night bus to Bangkok and jumped on the flight from there to go into Cambodia.